hello? [ male announcer ] and now new and improved febreze fabric refresher with up to two times the odor elimination so you can breathe happy, guaranteed. all right. time for one quick e-mail, john. what do you got? >> we have a john on twitter writes just came in from last call with my pal pat here in so cal, can i buy a bottle? >> we're going to get a lot of material on this sajak drinking on "wheel of fortune." the next question that has to be asked is has trebeck?

i bet he has. well, i think you know that fannie mae and freddie mac are a big part of why we have the housing crisis in the nation that we have. and we've had this discussion before. speaker gingrich was hired by freddie mac to promote them, to influence other people throughout washington. encouraging them to not -- not to dismantle these two entities, i think that was an enormous mistake. i think instead we should've had a whistleblower and not a horn tooter. he should've stood up and said these things are a disaster, this is a crisis, he should have been anxiously telling the american people that these entities were causing a housing bubble that would cause a collapse that we've seen here in florida and around the country. >> the governor has been attacking me inaccurately and he knows it. the contracts we released from freddie mac said i would do no consulting, no lobbying, none. but there's a more interesting story. we began digging in after monday night because i'd had about enough of this.

we discovered to our shock governor romney owns shares of fannie mae and freddie mac. governor romney made $1 million off of selling some of that. governor romney has an investment in goldman sachs, which is today foreclosing on floridians. maybe governor romney in the spirit of openness should tell us how much money he's made on households foreclosed by his investments. let's be clear about that. >> first of all, my investments are not made by me. my investments for the last ten years have been managed by a trustee. secondly, the investments they made we've learned about this as we made our financial disclosure have been in mutual funds and bonds. i don't own stock in either fannie mae or freddie mac. there are bonds the investor has held through mutual funds. and, mr. speaker, i know that sounds like an enormous revelation, but if you checked your own investments? you also have mutual funds that invest in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> all right.

>> the bigger issue here is these two gentlemen who are out distracting from the most important issues we have by playing petty personal politics. can we set aside that newt was a member of congress and used the skills that he developed as a member of congress to go out and advise companies. and that's not the worst thing in the world and mitt romney is a wealthy guy because he worked hard and he's going out and working hard. leave that alone and focus on the issue. >> it didn't stop there. good morning, everyone. it's friday, january 27th. with us onset, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle, msnbc and "time" magazine political analyst mark haleprin, as well. welcome, everyone, to "morning joe." >> that was a fascinating debate. there were so many different story lines in that debate. it was one of the most fascinating ones i've seen. >> bottom line, though. >> bottom line is rick santorum had a great performance. mitt romney was -- >> one. >> mitt romney was pretty darn

good and newt gingrich didn't show up. it was one of the stranger story lines of this republican campaign. asked afterward by the press in the spin room, you know, where people basically say that candidates had vomited on their lapels had a stellar night. newt gingrich's -- >> terrible. >> -- spokesman was asked, why wasn't newt more aggressive? his answer, i don't know. they then asked the question of fred thompson who recently endorsed newt gingrich why wasn't newt more aggressive? i don't know. >> that's a good answer. >> it was -- it was pretty surreal. mark haleprin -- >> exploring space. >> what got into newt last night? what was going on? >> in the immortal words of fred thompson, i don't know. >> wasn't that strange? >> i think the answer, the romney campaign for the last few days executed perfectly to push him back, to make him angry and

unfocused. he spent the whole night on the defensive badly. and the few times he went on the offensive, romney pushed it back at him. >> he let a lot of softballs go by. a lot of times he could've hammered romney and didn't do it. >> it was in a defensive and angry place and romney was totally equipped to dismantle whatever gingrich tried to throw at him. >> willie, romney had a very good night, rick santorum, though, most people i talk to think if you look at who did the best last night, rick santorum had a great night. >> he had a great night. mitt romney also had a great night. but i think santorum's long dissection of romney care and drawing romney into that debate where romney had to explain went back three or four times how it was different than president obama's affordable care act. >> right. >> and it didn't sound different from president obama -- i think that's an argument that the

white house liked hearing and something you'll hear again. if romney makes it through the general election. but i think one way he might have helped romney was with a bite we played there where santorum said can we drop all this nonsense? can we drop the nonsense? he was rich, he was successful. i think to republican voters, that's going to ring with them. >> but the headline of this, mike, if we're going to grade these the way that harvard's mark haleprin grades it with a great inflation, you always give the students at the front of the class from the richest families -- >> right. >> the ones you know are going to win in life anyway, you always give them the highest grade, that's how haleprin does it. so the practical effect of this is that romney won the night. because chances are very good that if romney wins florida, this is going to be why. >> well -- >> and by the way, for those who didn't see our discussion. mark haleprin doesn't grade just on the performance that night or he probably would've put

santorum -- but it's how does this debate actually affect the outcome. and judged by that standard, mitt romney was a big winner. >> watching that debate last night, i saw a mitt romney that i have not seen before. i mean, who was this guy? he was no longer the dressing room fighter who -- here's what i'm going to do when he's talking to you about the campaign and the candidacy of newt gingrich. he stood up on that stage yesterday and basically turned to newt and said you're not taking my lunch anymore, you're going to stop doing this and pushed him right back. i don't know whether that had anything to do with newt's demeanor the rest of the night. he may have been so surprised at romney's assault on him because he never expected it. few people who know romney would've expected him to do that last night. does he have a new debate coach? didn't he get a new debate coach? >> he does. but i think it's more -- we've seen this side of him before. i disagree with those respectfully who say we've never seen this side of him. he's been good in a lot of debates. hep hasn't been of late.

>> he hasn't been as contentious. >> i disagree. i think when he's needed to be. he's chosen not to be because he didn't need to be. but when he's been threatened, he's been contentious. remember when perry was a threat to him. >> yeah. >> i think he -- go ahead. >> no, no -- mika, i just want to say really quickly that i don't think you can overestimate what a rough day it was for newt gingrich yesterday. here's a guy who believes. and i think rightly so, that he extended the reagan revolution to congress to the legislative branch that he should be seen as the conservative hero of the past 20 years. and yet yesterday, this guy got absolutely killed by conservatives. there was a "politico" article. and for a guy that aides have said is prone to self-pity at

times when he's getting kicked, think about it. ann coulter came out yesterday eviscerating. there were stories all over drudge eviscerating him from conservatives, tom delay came out, kicked him around, said he wasn't a conservative. reagan administration officials came out, kicked him around. bob dole came out, kicked him around. it wasn't just the washington republican establishment like bob dole. it was the wide specter of a republican party that for better or for worse, newt gingrich brought to the majority of congress for the first time in a generation. i think that would weigh heavy on anybody and may have got him off of his game last night. >> well, actually, the piece you're writing for "politico" basically characterizes what you saw last night and all the peaks and valleys of his career. because there's not just ups,

there's up and wide swings to down, and we're literally watching that unfold before our eyes. let's go through some of the moments. the two front-runners sparred over two issues, including immigration policy and also talked about a harsh anti-romney attack ad that newt gingrich pulled off the air after republicans, including florida senator marco rubio criticized it as unfair. take a look. >> in the original conversations about deportation, the position i took which he attacked pretty ferociously was that grandmothers and grandfathers aren't going to be successfully deported. we as a nation are not going to walk into some family -- and by the way, they're going to end up in a church which will declare them a sanctuary. we're not going to grab a grandmother out and kick them out. i think you have to be realistic in your indignation. i want to control the border, i want english to be the official language of government, i want us to have a lot of changes. >> mr. speaker, i'm not anti-immigrant. my father was born in mexico, my

wife's father was born in wales, they came to this country. the idea that i'm anti-immigrant is repulsive. don't use a term like that. you can say we disagree on certain policies. but to say that enforcing the u.s. law to protect our borders, to welcome people here legally, to expand legal immigration as i approve that that's somehow anti-immigrant is simply the kind of over the top rhetoric that has characterized american politics too long. and i'm glad marco rubio called you out on it, i'm glad you withdrew it. and recognize that having differences of opinions on issues does not justify labeling people with highly charged epithets. >> i'll tell you what -- i'll give you an opportunity to self-describe. you tell me what language you would use to describe somebody who thinks that deporting a grandmother or a grandfather from their family -- just tell me the language. i'm perfectly happy to explain what language it is.

>> i'm not going to find grandmothers and deport them, those are your words, not my words. and to use that rhetoric suggests to people that somehow if you're not willing to keep people here who violated the law that you're anti-immigrant. nothing could be further from the truth. our problem is not 11 million grandmothers, our problem is -- all right. our problem is 11 million people getting jobs that many americans, legal immigrants would like to have. >> all right. mark haleprin -- >> that was good. >> throughout this campaign, mitt romney has shown different strengths at different times. last night, all of them were on display. i mean, that's one example right there. >> he was very strong. he was funny at times, he was principled at times. but let's not forget what his campaign has done in the last week to position him for that debate. joe mentioned some of the conservatives who came out across the conservative

spectrum, the establishment. bill clinton, one of his favorite expressions is if you see a turtle on a fence post, you know it didn't get there by itself. the campaign has orchestrated 80% of this. and it not only dominated the news cycle in florida the last few days, but discombobulated gingrich. when he gets attacked he gets ind indignant and completely off his game. and romney just was a perfect counter point to that, didn't get drawn into his own attacks, but chose the moments where he wanted to engage. >> are you saying mitt romney's a turtle on a fence post? >> a lot of what we've seen has been orchestrated by a little headquarters on the north end up in boston. and one of the brilliant moments romney had yesterday was when the topic wolf blitzer brought up the topic of who's more like reagan. and romney's like, yeah, gingrich is closer to reagan, he

stepped back, didn't fight on it. brilliant and part of an overall package of why romney had such a good night and why he's well positioned. >> by the way, they knew that was coming. >> of course. >> they knew it was coming. and in fact, i talked to somebody a couple of days ago who said gingrich is running around talking about how he's reagan despite the fact he trashed reagan time and again on the house floor. we're not going there. you know what's interesting about this, willie, is this debate which had a pro-romney crowd. >> yep. >> you would have thought it may have been in sarasota or maybe in southwest florida where romney-type voters are. it was in jacksonville, which is -- >> that's the south. >> the stretch from jacksonville to pensacola should be gingrich territory. >> i bet you, though, that's another turtle put on a fence post. i bet the romney campaign finally figured out, let's not

just see who shows up -- >> good for them, because they haven't served him well up until now. >> the immigration answer we showed the first or the second question, that set the tone immediately for the night. romney was prepared with his answer and had gingrich back on his heels and it was clear this was not going to be like the previous debates in south carolina where gingrich was going to get off his one-liners and have the crowd come to its feet. and the one time he tried the john king move where he challenged wolf blitzer and said that's an absurd question, wolf blitzer shut him down and said no, wait a minute, you just said this on the trail two days ago, talked about swiss bank accounts in the cayman islands and gave romney the opening who said wouldn't it be nice if we were we had a candidate out here willing to repeat to my face what he said on the trail? >> can i say one thing? clearly there's a conventional wisdom now, which is gingrich needed a strong debate, didn't have it. romney was awesome, santorum was

awesome, and therefore he's going to grow and that'll take votes from gingrich and this is over. that's the conventional wisdom. and we've seen it's been wrong a lot. gingrich and his super pac have millions of dollars in florida, gingrich is a fighter, and romney still has a ceiling in florida. while the conventional wisdom is this is over, i'd still want to see what happens over the next few days. >> florida's not iowa, florida's not new hampshire. as i've said before and anybody that lives in florida knows, i mean, you know, if you have a great debate performance in concord, they know about it all the way from dartmouth down to manchester. if you have a great performance in coral gables, chances are really good they don't know about it on the other side of coral gables. >> that's the difficulty of florida. or not. >> because florida is a mighty river. it flows -- and people are -- people are doing a million different things.

you -- for instance, you could have a baseball team that wins the world series and nobody would go out and see them play. >> that's right. in tampa. the biggest difficulty for gingrich off of last night, though, could well be a little guy sitting out there watching this debate in las vegas, sheldon edelson thinking i'm through writing checks. >> that's another piece of conventional wisdom. he could also say, newt's been mistreated. newt's been attacked. i'm going to invest more. >> oh, lord. >> but there is another guy in the rocky mountain west that was watching last night going, this rick santorum guy's doing okay. a i'll going to write more checks. >> santorum had a big night. >> santorum had a big night, he could show some movement in florida, and that's very important for the super tuesday states in the south. if rick santorum becomes the evangelical candidate, he's going to pick up delegates moving forward. >> let me show you one more thing, newt gingrich defended his insistence that the united

states should build a colony on the moon. while -- >> just read it. >> it's silly. >> just read it. >> romney accused the former speaker to pandering to voters in each primary state. >> i do not want to be the country having gotten to the moon first, turned around and said it doesn't really matter, let the chinese dominate space, what do we care? i think that is a path of national decline, and i am for america being a great country, not a country in decline. >> we're going to move on, but go ahead, governor romney. >> i -- i spent 25 years in business. if i had a business executive come to me and said they want to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, i'd say you're fired. the idea that corporate america wants to go off to the moon and build a colony there, it may be a big idea, but it's not a good idea. and we have -- we have seen in politics -- we've seen politicians and, newt, you've been part of this going state to

state and promise exactly what that state wants to hear. the speaker comes here to florida and wants to spend untold amount of money having a colony on the moon. i know it's exciting on the space coast, promising hundreds of billions of dollars to make people happy. we've got to say no to this kind of spending. >> yeah. i mean really. it's just -- >> you can't make that up. >> he handed that one to him. >> he handed him the baseball bat and said come here. >> and congressman paul, your thoughts? >> i don't want to go to the moon. >> all i can see when newt said that, if you're sitting in cape coral, florida, watching this. and every house around you is literally under water in two ways -- >> thank you, perspective. >> and you're watching a guy wanting to spend billions going to the moon having establish a colony. you have no neighbors. >> let me tell you the most fascinating thing about this newt gingrich campaign, it's down and then we have a tiffany

summer, he was up. then he was down, and then we had south carolina and he was up. right now we're all laughing and he's down, he's probably going to do not so well in florida. i could be wrong. but i don't think he'll win. and he's down and everybody will laugh at him. >> i'm going to stop laughing right now. >> and february's going to come and he's going to have three weeks to get his act together and prepare for the next push. and then he's going to be up. he's got -- he has got a strong republican brand that goes back to 1978. and it is a brand that even the dream of moon colonies can't undermine. >> let's hope that it just stays -- all right. this monday and tuesday -- you're right, though. let's pull it together. "morning joe" will be live from miami. come join us -- oh, we're going to jerry's famous deli. >> that's exciting. you know what it's famous for? >> what? >> the saying. if you see a turtle on a fence

post, it didn't get there by itself. >> you don't know what that means? >> no. it's so cool. >> things don't happen by accident in politics. >> barnicle, i'm usually the one that takes -- >> you've heard that before. >> no. what? you think i grew up in the woods? >> it's a good one. >> can you take grandpa off the set for a second? >> all right. up next, mike allen joins us with the political playbook. come join us in miami. that'll be fun. let's go to bill karins with the weekend forecast. thank god it's friday. bill? >> i can't believe i'm going to support grandpa, but i'm with you, barnicle, i've never heard about it either. i'm with you. good morning, everyone. we're watching rain on the east coast. need the rain boots and umbrella, but not the gloves or the heavy jacket. warm conditions traveling through new england in the mid-atlantic. we're although watching thunderstorms down through the sunshine state, especially around cape coral. stay indoors for the next half hour if you can, wait for these

thunderstorms to roll through and start your morning routine. forecast wise, i mentioned it's going to be warm. can you believe it'll be 60 today in philadelphia. 50s in boston, hartford, also in the southeast, once the thunderstorms clear out, nice day for you atlanta, dallas, new orleans. as we take you through your weekend forecast, really, no weather issues. temperatures, pretty much near normal, slightly above, only in the pacific northwest do we have any rain to worry about. no snowstorms this weekend. once again, looks like we're going to end january on a quiet note just like this entire winter has been. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪

♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. is another way to look at the bean. another way that reveals the lighter, mellower side of our roast. being blonde is nothing new but blonde roast is something new. something subtle. something soft. something with 40 years of roasting experience on its side. introducing delicious new starbucks blonde roast. the lighter roast perfected. ♪

♪ >> by the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be american. >> mr. moon base, what was your

problem with ron paul again? >> you look at ron paul's total record of systemic avoidance of reality. there'll come a morning when people won't take him as a serious person. >> no, you're right. they won't. they won't. you're right, mr. moon base, they won't take ron paul seriously. and that's why i'm going to make ron paul my first ambassador to moonlandia. he's out there. >> wow. pretty good. 26 past the hour. time now to take a look at the morning papers. the photo on the front page of the "wall street journal" shows australian prime minister gilliard losing her shoe as she was rushed away from an event that became surrounded by angry protesters. police had to rush her and her aides away from a restaurant as protesters for aboriginal rights started banging on windows and throwing sticks and rocks. we're told she did get the shoe back. and the "new york times"

through freedom of information bbc's obtained the first ever list from the british government showing hundreds of actors, writers, and musicians who have turned down the queen's offer of knight hood. david bowie, and john lennon who gave his honor back as part of a peace protest. and famously, he threw his mbe right into the mississippi river. and then he went out -- he went out and beat sonny. how about the "st. petersburg times" saying the hockey team has fired the mascot thunder bug after an incident involving silly string, spraying a fan in the face. the fan came after him. there's your boston fan retaliating. the thunder bug was shoved up the steps. >> the fan was removed from his seat and given a talking to.

tampa bay fans are not happy about the firing of thunder bug. >> we want thunder bug back. >> look at thunder bug. >> there's a facebook campaign to reinstate thunder bug. >> did they fire the costume? >> he's done. >> why doesn't newt propose -- >> oh, my. that's america. >> you win, hillsboro county, you win the space coast -- >> this is why my father said we lost strategic vision. look at us. look at this. seriously. >> i think it's a good move. call r.c. hammon. you've got to love the boston guy willing to go after the mascot. >> look at the woman clapping. >> could you imagine if -- >> oh. >> punched him in the face. >> the boston guys. you look at them wrong, they pull you in by your shirt.

"parade" magazine, a play-by-play guide to throwing a great super bowl party. >> oh, yes. >> you could invite thunder bug and his silly string. and you can eat burgers and chips and wings. stuff your face and scream at the television. >> over the space coast. >> it's a cutting issue. >> i think mike allen knows thunder bug. >> really? let's ask him. >> i love thunder bug. they need to rehire thunder bug. >> i think they will. >> we're going to start a petition. >> mike allen with a look at the playbook. what's your position on the thunder bug fiasco? >> thunder bug surged in the overnight track. the thunder bug primary has kicked off and he has a big endorsement deal. >> he went on the attack with the silly string and it paid off. let's get your headline out of last night's debate. what's the big take away. well, first, happy friday. don't forget that. >> yes. my apologies, yes.

>> and i try to be mr. glass is half full here. i rarely bring you bad news, but i have a little storm cloud for "morning joe." >> what? >> this is the last debate till february 22nd. >> oh, no. >> we have to go weeks without a gop debate. >> that's not bad news. >> it's the longest -- this was debate 19, the longest stretch till debate 20 since the debates have started. last night, newt's no-show debate is what we're calling it. before the debate, romney folks told us if romney wins tonight we probably win florida, if newt has another south carolina moment, we could well lose. newt had no south carolina moment. in fact, it's the -- we're calling it the trading places debate that mitt romney was the one who was the aggressor, looked strong, went after newt. newt was oddly passive throughout the debate. afterwards, his folks blamed it partly on the audience. they told the huffington post john ward that mitt romney had

packed the debate hall. that's advance 101. >> tell me about some of this reporting you guys have done. newt's rise unnerves house gop. some you say, "recoiled" at the thought of gingrich at the top of a ticket. >> willie, this is juicy. this is the chatter on the bus as house republicans were coming back from their retreat up in maryland. and especially freshmen, especially women, very concerned about the idea of newt gingrich as the nominee. they say he would do poorly with independents, suburbanites, women. >> we have an nbc "wall street journal" poll that came out last night, gingrich trailing president obama by 18 points. >> wow. >> does worse than rick santorum in a head-to-head according to that poll. mike allen with a look at the playbook. thanks so much. >> happy weekend. see you in miami. >> thank you. coming up onset, we'll bring

in martin o'malley and pat quinn of illinois. all three going to be with us here at 30 rock and we'll also talk to arne duncan. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees...

take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la [ man ] whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now, that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do.

he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa.

welcome back to "morning joe." time for some sports. coach joe paterno was laid to rest yesterday after tens of thousands of penn state fans gathered and lined the streets to celebrate his life. but the debate over his legacy continued even inside the memorial. 12,000 people packed the penn state basketball arena to pay final respects to the long-time iconic coach who died on sunday of lung cancer at the age of 85. speakers at the ceremony included former players from each decade of paterno's nearly half century career. but it was his long-time friend, nike founder phil knight who made the most news on thursday. knight brought the crowd to its feet by offering a staunch defense of paterno's handling of the child sex abuse scandal that rocked penn state. >> gave full disclosure to his superio superiors, went up to the head

of the campus police and the president of the school. the matter was in the hands of a world class university and a president with an outstanding national reputation. whatever the details are, this much is clear to me, if there's a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation, not in joe paterno's response to it. >> that's nike's ceo phil knight at the memorial yesterday. after that, the hearse went through the streets of state college lined with fans and he was laid to rest after that. coming up next, we'll talk to john harwood fresh off a cameo on colbert we're told. >> interesting. >> hi, john. >> all right. >> how's it going, john? people with a machine.

what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi... florida... louisiana... alabama. the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go.

so come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for tourism on the gulf. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home.

♪ to continue our discussion of today's top news stories, i'm proud to welcome some people who are in town. this is stephen colbert's great available panel. john harwood, okay, you're a political analyst, who takes florida? >> well, first of all, i'm in an open marriage with my political predictions right now. >> good man. good man. that's appealing, evidently. >> yeah. but i think the one i love the best at the moment is that mitt romney comes back, wins florida, wins the nomination. >> joining us now, that man. cnbc chief washington correspondent john harwood. that looked like fun. who else was on that panel? >> well, the featured guest was drew barrymore. i did get a picture for my daughters with her. but the panel was me, katrina

vandenhuevel playing the ideologue and david cassidy from the partridge family. >> i woke up and love this morning. david cassidy? >> did you have a poster in your room as a kid? >> she didn't even know -- >> i didn't. >> her father actually -- her father didn't let her listen to radio, said it was -- >> not allowed. >> said it was a communist conspiracy. >> i watched "happy days." >> so last night, it was a fascinating debate. newt, some would say, didn't show up. the old newt most of us have grown up with. >> it's interesting, one of the -- after south carolina, i talked to one of obama's advi r advise advisers, and we were talking about this momentum and the double-digit win and all that. and watch what happens when newt gets on top. he doesn't handle it well, doesn't perform well. he went into cruising speed on

the monday night debate and said i'm not going to waste time answering those attacks and he simply is not on his came when he's not aggressive, when he's not hitting out really hard. and romney was especially sharp last night, relentless, never backing down. that's showing some fire that he hadn't shown in previous debates. and it's that combined with the money he's putting on television between him and the super pac's a pretty good combination. >> also, mark haleprin, really strong performances by mitt romney and rick santorum. >> and those stood out as much as gingrich being bad. i've got to say romney was very good last night, but the campaign -- the romney campaign did go after gingrich in south carolina until it was too late. they focused on him in florida. and again, if you're a republican worried about winning the general election, you can be hardened by romney's performance but also the performance of his campaign team. we saw this when they were threatened by rick perry, they destroyed him. they've done an incredibly effective job this week getting in gingrich's face on the

campaign trail, on tv, through these daily conference calls -- dole and eliot abrams, dealing with mad drudge. they've been very effective. >> it's been perhaps at the right time or just in time. according to the latest nbc news "wall street journal" poll, newt gingrich leads the republican presidential field with 37% support nationwide. mitt romney is nine points behind following rick santorum at 19% and ron paul at 12%. huge leads over mitt romney in several key republican voting blocks that are likely to pick the party's nominee for president. gingrich has a 39% lead over romney among voters who consider themselves very conservative, 37% lead among southerners, and a 35% lead among tea party supporters. but when it comes to a potential match-up against president obama, look at this. republican voters believe mitt romney is the strongest candidate. he trails the president by six

points, rick santorum seen as the next strongest candidate, while the former speaker loses to president obama in a head-to-head race by a whopping 18 points. >> john harwood over the past couple of presidential election cycles, it was one race after another after another after another. you get handed a big loss in florida, that would hurt you going forward. a mccain win in florida basically gave him the nomination, but now he goes silent for a month. newt gingrich who has been strong in the republican party since 1978, he can make a lot of trouble in three or four weeks. those numbers suggest this guy can take a punch and keep going. >> well, the other thing that we've seen in this campaign is that momentum effects tend to be isolated within states rather than going across state lines. so santorum comes roaring out of iowa, kind of hit a wall in new hampshire. gingrich runs into south carolina and very quickly mitt romney -- >> i remember new hampshire, we saw mitt romney's speech in new

hampshire and we're all saying, oh, boy. >> it's done. >> look at this guy. he's found -- and three, four days later. >> right. and the other thing that poll showed, mika. when you ask republicans what's more important to you? somebody who agrees with you on the issues or somebody more electable? more people said they want someone who agrees with them on the issues and newt gingrich does. he has underlying assets if he can get his message out and return to some of that aggression and bringing his a-game he didn't bring last night. >> there's a real disconnect between me and -- i just don't understand how people see in your party the conservative base especially see newt gingrich as someone that truly connects with their beliefs because he has changed so many times and he hasn't -- he's had so many -- >> you look at the bottom line. you look -- >> and ethical problems. >> if you got rid of all the crazy things newt gingrich said -- >> but you can't -- >> push that aside. and you looked at the results at the end of the day -- it'd be

like, let's say you had a stockbroker. >> yeah. >> that said the craziest things and, hey, i'm going to the moon tomorrow and you get nervous and what's wrong with this guy? you know i'm shooting heroin right now while i'm investing your money. oh, no. but you look back over 20, 30 years and this guy has a better record delivering than anybody else that you've had, look at newt. he's got all the crazy statements, but he's got like a 93%, 94% lifetime acu rating, that matters to us conservatives. he led republicans from the wilderness to a majority for the first time in a generation. nobody believed -- nobody believed that that would happen in 1994, including his closest lieutenants. and that would not have happened if bob michael had stayed in power. that would not have happened but for newt gingrich. >> but you can't -- >> but you can't, though, mika,

for people voting in republican primaries since the 1960s, you can't understand that. yeah, he's crazy saying that moon landing stuff. i remember what he said in '94 right before we got the majority. right, john? >> oh, yeah. >> there's a history here. there's a bond between the republican base and newt gingrich that crazy words. >> my favorite moment with newt gingrich was interviewing him in 1990, i think, and he had a picture up on his wall of the famous chinese dissident standing on the tank. he said, that's me. the tank is the liberal welfare state and i'm blocking it. and mika, one of the things we talked about on colbert last night was whether the three wives stuff with gingrich, whether that speaks to an underlying visceral attraction people have to newt. are you feeling it? they had a fox -- they were playing some stuff from a fox psychologist who said anybody who can get three women to commit their lives to him knowing what they knew about

him, he may leave us asking for a third term rather than just two. >> mark haleprin. >> doesn't do it for you? >> i think she's confused now. >> oh, no. i'm not confused. there are other words. >> -- and i think we know how gingrich will react if he wins to florida. we don't know how gingrich will react to losing florida. he could make this a long fight. >> it's going to be a long fight. >> you say long fight, though. if he loses florida, one of the things newt gingrich thrives on is the constant spotlight, constant stage presence. he goes dark for three weeks. >> and they're going to write more checks. >> right. >> you look at the calendar coming up when we start fighting again in march. mississippi, alabama, arkansas, louisiana, states where newt is going to do pretty well. you haven't gotten rid of him yet, barnicle. >> oh, my god. we'll be right back. the employee of the month isss...

the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet?

♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year.

♪ seek your way and go

is it time? >> yes. >> oh, is it time? >> another clear delineation. never quite know if we're on tv or not. we're on right now. >> that's when i woke up and there was walter mondale passed out on the floor and a lot of

monkeys. >> okay. i want to see the weekend review. >> t.j. never warns us. >> just roll it. >> bob dole -- >> to suggest that governor romney is more reagan-like than i am is an act of total fantasy. >> at number three, wrestling over reagan. >> they've got a great sense of humor, but also a cynical attitude toward their system. >> mitt romney and newt gingrich campaigning this week in florida competed for the right to ronald reagan's legacy. >> i campaigned with him in 1980, helped him for eight years while he was president, i made a movie about him. >> a pro-romney super pac pointed out in the ad that the admiration may not have been mutual for president reagan. >> from debates, you'd think newt gingrich was ronald reagan's vice president. but in his diaries, he mentioned him only once. >> gingrich tried to get a piece of jfk's mantle by promising a moon shot. >> we will have the first permanent base on the moon. and it will be american. >> the former house speaker

answered criticism he took from another house speaker, nancy pelosi. >> she lives in a san francisco environment of very strange fantasies. >> meanwhile, sarah palin metaphorically accused romney supporter chris christie of wearing women's underwear. >> well, kind of get your panties in a wad and you may say things you regret later and i think that's what chris christie did. >> at number two, the buffett rules. ♪ dinah, won't you blow your horn ♪ >> the chinese rang in their new year this week, and for reasons that remained unclear at press time, american billionaire warren buffett was invited to play the ukulele on china's version of "dick clark's rockin' new year's eve." ♪ i've been working on the railroad ♪ >> buffett's performance quickly turned the year of the dragon into the year of the rich guy in a sweatshirt playing the ukulele in front of his train set.

♪ dinah, won't you blow your horn ♪ >> and the number one story of the week. >> the state of our union is getting stronger. >> president obama walked the country through his resume during the state of the union address. >> general motors is back on top as the world's number one automaker. for the first time in nine years, there are no americans fighting in iraq. osama bin laden is not a threat to this country. >> in a generally well-received speech, there was one unfortunate moment that set the country back months in its recovery. >> because milk was somehow classified as an oil, with a rule like that, i guess it was worth crying over spilled milk. >> and i can tell you from experience, the worst part isn't the crowd's reaction, it's the wife's. >> crying over spilled milk.

>> you know, that face says. that face says -- [ bleep ] told you that wasn't funny. >> yes, there was the bad joke. but on the other side of the ledger, president obama did authorize a daring navy s.e.a.l. raid under the cover of darkness to rescue two aide workers. so that was pretty good. >> good job tonight. good job tonight. >> out on a tour of swing states, president obama got a finger in his grill from arizona's gubernatorial welcoming committee. >> he wanted to talk about the book, and i thought that he was pretty thin skinned. >> sarah palin, your thoughts on this desert dust-up. >> you kind of get your panties in a wad and you may say things you regret later. >> any official response from governor christie? >> not to my knowledge. i said he's going to reply at a place and time of his choosing. >> as he always does. >> she should probably call

gayle. >> what? >> oh, gayle in new jersey. >> to get a sense of what's waiting for her. by the way -- >> taking on chris christie doesn't end well for you. >> that gm story, pretty good, just saying. >> what's her name? gayle! >> come join us at jerry's famous deli on monday and tuesday starting at 5:30 in the morning. we'll be right back this morning, eugene robinson and jeff greenfield. ♪

♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. [ female announcer ] nature valley granola bars, rich dark chocolate, toasted oats. perfect combinations of nature's delicious ingredients, from nature valley. ♪ nature valley granola bars, nature at its most delicious.

what governor romney just said is a government-run top down medicine is working pretty well in massachusetts and he supports it. think about what that means going up against barack obama who you're going to claim well top-down government run medicine at the federal level doesn't work and we should repeal it. and he's going to say, wait a minute, governor, you just said in massachusetts it works well. folks, we can't give this issue away in this election. >> rick, i make enough mistakes with what i say for you to add mistakes. i didn't say i'm in favor of top down government run health care, we're insisting on personal responsibility. either get the insurance or help pay for your care. and that was the conclusion that we reached. >> does everybody in massachusetts have a requirement to buy health care? >> everyone has a requirement to either buy health care or pay the state for the cost to providing them free care. because the idea of people getting something for free when

they can afford to care for themselves is something we decided in our state was not a good idea. >> so in massachusetts -- just so we understand. in massachusetts, everybody is mandated as a condition of breathing in massachusetts to be able -- to buy health insurance. and if you don't, and if you don't, you have to pay a fine. >> first of all, it's not worth getting angry about. secondly, the -- secondly 98% of the people have insurance. and so the idea that more people are free riding the system is simply impossible. >> what a great debate. great conversation. that was a little bit of a misstep, but he still won. welcome back, everyone. >> yes, ma'am. i'm going -- we just got -- >> no, he did a really good job and you know he won and so did rick santorum, but he didn't win. welcome back to "morning joe." mark haleprin is still -- no, he's not. >> mark's not here.

>> mike barnicle's still with us. eugene robinson is with us. joining us jeff greenfield. great to have you all at the table. >> let's not key in too much on one moment. >> there were many. >> but i will tell you. mitt romney had a great night for mitt romney. >> no. >> i think he -- no, i think he had a great night. i think that'll probably propel him to a win in florida. that's my own gut right now being from florida. and knowing the type of people florida elects. that said, jeff, for we conservatives who question this -- what's at this man's core. the one thing i promise you would never hear out of my mouth would be one that paul ryan's medicare plan is right-wing social engineering from the newt side. you say how does anybody do that? and the other front-runner's saying, you know, individual mandates, the individual mandates that actually conservatives are praying that

the united states supreme court will overturn as an unconstitutional violation of my civil rights as an american, that's nothing to get concerned about. >> right. >> that's a big -- big mistake. >> if you were judging this debate strictly on a kind of college score, santorum's critique was substantively the most powerful moment of the night. but it was so overwhelmed -- mitt romney, they ought to test him for performance-enhancing drugs because he's never had a more enhanced performance than last night. at every moment, everything people have been panicked about mitt romney. he's a stiff, he doesn't know how to debate, can't take a punch was turned on its head. even to the point where gingrich's demand for an audience response worked for romney and against gingrich. >> everything seemed to work for romney. >> and it was as if, i kept remembering the scene in patton

where george scott is watching his troops route, and he says ramel, you magnificent bastard, i read your book. and the romney people, it's like they looked at everything that happened and said here's what we're going to do. >> they prepared. they prepared him. >> what was your take? >> he kind of checked every box except he's not a real conservative box. and that passage alone i think makes him a lot of -- real dedicated conservatives still unreconciled, probably, to the idea of mitt romney as a standard of their cause. >> we already talked about it earlier this morning, though. romney's people may finally be getting it, that you don't sell a guy for what he is not. of course, four years ago they tried to paint him as a right-wing social conservative. that was a flop. last night i felt was one of mitt's better moments and they

came straight from the campaign. when they bring up reagan, concede the point. >> right. >> sometimes it's great. concede the point. just let it go past you and say let's move on. hey, he's closer to reagan than me. >> yeah. yeah. no -- let mitt be mitt and maybe we'll find out who mitt really is. i think that's very smart. and not a good night for newt. >> what happened. where was he? >> where was he the last debate too? you know, i was in -- we were in south carolina, you saw how well angry newt played. >> yeah. >> and so i thought that for sure after the last debate we'd see angry newt come back, or at least kind of proactive newt. newt who, you know, he got the crowds. >> jeff, this proves what we said about newt and i remember saying it right after south carolina. now newt's in trouble. >> arrogance.

>> i don't know if it's that. >> it is. >> he's a guy when you're in the wilderness and nobody thinks you can win the majority, he wins the majority. but the second he's in the speaker's office, he doesn't know what to do with himself. >> he can't stand prosperity. and i think he felt, you know what? i'm going to str thave the audi on my side. and the minute mitt threw him off his game, it was like i don't have a second act. he didn't even look mitt in the eye. >> i noticed that too. but debates after a while, they're lite athletic contests, they're like prize fights. there's always an element of surprise, like with the favorite. you know, oh, the guy can punch. you know, oh, he just hit the 96-mile-an-hour fastball. last night, the moment, at least through my eyes came when mitt turned to newt and said have you checked your own investments? >> oh, manyy gosh. >> and he looked stunned.

>> he was stunned. this kid took my lunch away from me. >> he got ugly and got into it. >> and mika -- >> i was going to start with something else, but i want to show that moment. >> he's exactly right. i mean, mitt did punch back hard. but i think newt, the first big surprise for newt wasn't that. it was two or three minutes -- and you know -- we've all spoken before, people. i know the second i walk into a room how the speech is going to end. i just do. i know when i'm going to walk in a room. and i could tap dance and sing like, you know -- i could sing new york, new york. and frank sinatra. and they would sit there and stare at me. >> i'll bet. >> but newt knew last night the second he gauged that audience, it wasn't his audience. and i think it really after south carolina i think it threw him off. >> and to the point you made -- >> actually saying new york, new york, would be more like liza minnelli. >> we'll get to that in a

moment. you pointed out major conservative figures were lashing out at him over the past two days and that might have thrown him off his game a little, as well. let's go to that moment you were talking about where mitt romney fired back and said let's look at your finances. take a look. >> i think you know that fannie mae and freddie mac are a big part of why we have the housing crisis in the nation that we've had. and we've had this discussion before. speaker gingrich was hired by freddie mac to promote them to influence other people throughout washington, encouraging them to not -- not to dismantle these two entities. i think that was an enormous mistake. i think instead we should've had a whistle blower and not a horn tooter. he should've stood up and said, look, these things are a disaster, this is a crisis. he should have been anxiously telling the american people that these entities were causing a housing bubble that would cause a collapse we've seen here in florida and around the country. >> the governor has been attacking me inaccurately and he knows it. the contracts released said i would do no consulting -- no

lobbying, none. but there's a more interesting story. we began digging in after monday night because frankly i'd had about enough of this. we discovered to our shock, governor romney owns shares of both fannie mae and freddie mac. governor romney made $1 million off of selling some of that. governor romney has an investment in goldman sachs, which is today foreclosing on floridians. maybe governor romney in the spirit of openness should tell us how much money he's made off of how many households that have been foreclosed by his investments. let's be clear about that. >> first of all, my investments are not made by me. my investments for the last ten years have been to blind trusts, managed by a trustee. secondly, the investments they made, we've learned about this as we made our financial disclosure have been in mutual funds and bonds. i don't own stock in fannie mae or freddie mac. there are bonds that the investor has held through mutual funds. and mr. speaker, i know that sounds like an enormous revelation, but have you checked

your own investments? you also have investments from mutual funds that also invest in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> all right. >> so mitt took a problem, something that could appear to be a growing problem for him and turned it right around on newt gingrich. >> yep. >> it was pretty fantastic moment. >> i just turned a disadvantage into an advantage. did you see newt's head jerk when he said have you checked your own investments? >> come on. >> look, you know newt. you worked with newt very closely. so now that he's had these disastrous, i think two debates, now that he is -- will probably lose florida. >> yeah. >> the entire conservative establishment has ganged up on him. so -- >> it's over, right? >> he's right in his wheel house. this is his moment. he's going to come back. he's going to get better immediately, he's going to get

sharper. and assuming he can survive the next three weeks -- >> think about newt went out of new hampshire and we all mocked him and was sure his campaign was over. he went to south carolina and e he -- he was in a sweet spot. he was the outsider, and jeff, he's going to have three, four weeks now in february to plot and scheme to win a series of races on super tuesday across the southeast. >> and this is the -- this is the setting sin of people like us. it happens all the time. you linear extrapolate. you assume because something's going this way, it can't change. we've seen this campaign a change half dozen times. speaking of reagan, 1976, he loses the first five primaries, written out of the race. >> it's over. >> gives half hour foreign policy speech, wins the north carolina primary and almost defeats jerry ford. so the notion that newt gingrich is dead given this year and the

dynamic of the republican party and the still underlying weakness that you point out about mitt romney. he is not a conservative in the sense that the party wants a conservative seems to me there's room for two things. a comeback by newt and continuing panic in the republican establishment. >> and look what's happened. so mitt romney wins new hampshire. the morning after, conservatives say this cannot stand. we are not going to elect, nominate another moderate big government conservative, or big government republican. so then newt pulls ahead and the conservative establishment says this cannot stand. we're not going to elect an unelectable guy. >> what are you doing this for, joe? >> i'll tell you what, i think the next thing we're doing is looking at rick santorum. i wonder if santorum if he gets enough money, mike, the rick santorum i saw last night was

impressive. >> he had a big night. >> this is a guy -- and everybody remembers the last election, fine, it was 2006, ronald reagan would've lost in pennsylvania in 2006. not only won in '94, big republican year, but in 2000 when he would walk into receptions and everyone would call him the walking dead, you know what? he went up to pennsylvania and won and the state republicans don't usually win in. i'm not trying to advance any new exciting narrative, i think more conservatives, though, moving forward are going to look at rick santorum. he's getting better. >> to jeff's point. the way we covered these primaries and we've always covered them the same way, which is not the greatest because right now we're covering two people. covering gingrich and romney. but if you've paid attention to it, which i haven't quite enough, actually. santorum has improved every time -- >> so you haven't paid attention to what you're supposed to do, how many days until pitchers and catchers report? >> now it's 14. >> okay. go ahead. i just wanted people to know

that like george w. bush, you do -- you love baseball and you know a lot about baseball. >> yeah, absolutely. too bad he wasn't a baseball commissioner. every week, every one of these debates, the constant improvement factor goes to rick santorum. >> yeah. >> he's gotten better in each debate and last night was his best yet. the gingrich thing. there's nothing better. i've always thought covering a loser's locker room is the most interesting aspect of college sports, today and tomorrow, the gingrich campaign in florida would be very interesting off of his lack of performance last night. >> but you can't treat newt gingrich like you would treat any other loser in a locker room. because newt is preparing for the next attack. you know one of my favorite bill clinton stories was the story of -- i think it was david who talked about in '80 after bill clinton lost, his people looked

outside second floor down on the square and bill clinton's shaking hands. and they said that poor, poor fool doesn't realize he lost. and the other aide goes, no, he knows he lost, but he's not campaigning for 1980. he's getting ready for 1982. clinton and gingrich have a lot in common. these guys just keep going, jeff greenfield. they keep going. >> it's like resputin. they had to kill him five times before he finally died. >> and rasmutin didn't have a mogul in vegas giving him millions of dollars. >> we'll have to check that out. >> it was a czar, but that's okay. >> it's disturbing. jeff, eugene stay with us. we're going to bring in martin o'malley of maryland, and jack markell, also arne duncan will

be joining us, up next, david gregory and chuck todd. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> good morning, mika. i think i gave barnicle bad information. i think i told him it wouldn't be too bad with delays, unfortunately, there's one-hour delays right now out of the new york city airports including laguardia because of the rain moving through low visibility. if you've taken some flights today out of big cities in the east, it's just rain, not sleet or snow or anything, but there's that one-hour delay reported at laguardia. a warm, windy day, could be thunderstorms later today. also thunderstorms right now moving through central florida. middle of the country, light snow in the northern plains and great lakes. taking you through your weekend forecast. west coast looks fine, little windy in california, but it's a nice and quiet mild winter weekend throughout much of the nation. the exception up there around minneapolis. can't believe how quiet this winter's been. it's ridiculous and warm too. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ male announcer ] succeeding in today's market

requires more than wishful thinking. it requires determination and decisive action. i go to e-trade and get unbiased analyst ratings and 24/7 help from award-winning customer support to take control of my finances and my life. i tap into the power of revolutionary mobile apps. to trade wherever. whenever. life isn't fully experienced sitting idly by. neither is investing. [ birds chirping ]

♪ it seems they both acknowledge they both made money from fannie and freddie. should they return that money? >> that subject doesn't really interest me a whole lot. >> congressman paul, who's right? >> i think they're all wrong. >> texas, the space program very important there, as well. where do you stand on this? >> well, i don't think we should go to the moon, i think we maybe should send some politicians up there at times. >> are you prepared to release your medical records so voters out there know what your health is? >> it's about one page if even that long, but -- but i'm willing to -- i'm willing to

challenge any of these gentlemen up here to a 25-mile bike ride any time of the day in the heat of texas. you know, there are laws against age discrimination, so if you push this too much, you better be careful. >> imagine you're in the oval office, you speak to raul castro, what would you say to him? >> well, i'd ask him what he called about, you know. >> yeah, okay. >> he was good last night. >> very nice. >> joining us from washington, moderator of "meet the press," david gregory, and chief white house correspondent chuck todd. gentlemen, thanks for being with us. >> david, a fascinating debate last night on so many levels. break it down for us. >> well, i think it was a big night for mitt romney. i think if you took newt gingrich's biggest strength and you saw how he performed this week, you have to give the advantage to romney. he went after gingrich very

hard. i think romney neutralized some of his own liabilities, attacked some of gingrich's strengths. an issue you talk a lot about, joe, is this notion that gingrich is a true conservative when, in fact, some of the grandiose ideas came out last night. and i think romney saying look, given my business background, i'd say you're fired. i think we're living in an age of austerity and government. that's a message that the base wants to hear. i think that romney made it very clear to republican voters out there he can fight, he can bring the fight on a lot of different levels in the course of a campaign. he's done that more effectively in florida than he did it in south carolina, and i think they've got to be feeling very good. >> hey, chuck, what happened to newt? >> where was he? >> he struck me as a guy with no plan who sort of said i can do this, don't worry. i'll figure it out. and he like tries all of his old tricks sort of like the 42-year-old pitcher who can still throw a pretty good game

every now and then. >> yeah. >> but went in there and said -- now let me try -- >> bringing up tim wakefield, okay. we had a rough september and you don't have to be are uning it in in january. >> he tried the media trick. all of a sudden they were going to let that happen. he went and went, oh, no, all my bag of tricks are gone and then tried to be the nice guy again. he had no plan. mitt romney, this guy was relentless. >> was on fire. >> there was some skepticism. you talk to some folks going, you know, maybe the problem here, he's got a little bit of a glass jaw. any time you fight and he fights back, he stiffens up. any chance he got, he pounded him. that said, he still didn't fix his conservative problem, right? and rick santorum exposed that in spades on the health care plan in a way we hadn't seen in any other debate. six months ago we were convinced that was going to be the mitt

romney handicap. and what, of course, mitt romney's handicap has been all the self-inflicted wounds on his wealth, finances, the awkward things he can say on the trail. that's what's hurt him as much as anything. but santorum did real damage. and you do wonder, that's all good news for romney. i agree with david. it is anything that takes votes away from newt gingrich at this point is a good day for romney. >> no doubt about it. but jeff greenfield, while mitt had a great night last night, what helps him in january does not help him in november. i'm thinking specifically of his -- when he starts talking about blind trusts. and, in fact, when he's not going to be able to go against barack obama on fannie and freddie. barack obama who got tons of money from those two because of something he said last night. he made a misstatement last night when he said he didn't control the fannie and freddie part of his blind trusts. he does, he has boxed himself out i think on this issue because of a misstatement which

i'm sure was not deliberate, but it was a misstatement last night. >> no, i think there are things for the fall not good for him. even when he starts talking about the blind trusts, even if he'd been right, folks thinking this sounds like thurston howell iii calling his family retainer to say binkie, how are we doing? dipping anywhere near into capital? it is a problem given this particular year and the feeling that most people have that the top .1% are in trouble. he did himself a lot of good atmospherically, seemed tough and ready to fight. on the substance, i agree with you, joe, there's a problem lurking out there for the fall. >> i just think on the substance of fannie mae and freddie mac, these are the gses, guarantee 90% of the mortgages in this country. there was a lot of heat here, absolutely no light. i think stylistically how rich romney is in a blind trust, that

may not play well. but let's be very clear, one of the biggest problems in our economy right now is the housing crisis and they were in florida. they grossly exaggerated what the nature of the problem from those two companies was. they have no plan to fix it other than newt gingrich wants to dismantle those two agencies and has no plan for what happens after that. the obama administration has not performed well on the housing crisis. so in terms of a big, huge problem, get away from the style points, nobody's posing real solutions. they're in the game of saying who can be most demonized by being closest to two of the actors in the housing industry, that's all. >> big picture, eugene robinson, think about the president's state of the union address. >> exactly. >> and the great moments in that speech. >> you want to start throwing confetti? >> no, not throwing confetti. just the question i was going to ask, who won the week? the president won the week. >> mitt romney won the debate.

>> yeah. >> but the president still won the week, and then you've got these polls that show that people like newt in the conservative base, but they think mitt can win. it's kind of a problem. >> politically, the president didn't just win the week, the president has won the month. the president won going all the way back to the end of the year last year. and the poll numbers this week, gene, have shown it. in fact, we've got new nbc news "wall street journal" polls out. and according to the latest that i'm going to read to you once the teleprompter scrolls, newt gingrich -- seriously i -- the pregnant pause is a suggestion. i'm waiting. >> the one time he wants to use it. >> i don't use a prompter -- so you look at these numbers, and you've got gingrich at 37% in the national poll, which really just doesn't matter that much. romney at 28%, santorum's at

18%, paul's at 12%. newt opening up hugely over mitt in several key republican voting blocks. he's got a 39% lead over romney in voters that consider themselves conservative. 37% lead among southerners. a 35% lead among tea party supporters. when it comes to a match-up against president obama, this is what we were talking about. the president easily leads romney by six percentage points, easily leads santorum double digits, and newt gingrich does even worse. >> i was just going to point out, the president's numbers on his handling of the economy on his overall approval on whether the country's on the right track, wrong track, which are all important numbers and they've all improved. they've all improved. >> and we've said it for some time. if the president's sitting at 46%, he's defined political gravity. and i think we're making mistake this year if we're saying he needs to get to 50.1%.

i don't think that's the case with america's elect. i think the president's going to win. whoever wins is going to win with less than 50% this year. >> that's been my gut. i do think we're going to see some third entity that will be a factor and the factor could be 5%. and let me go to the most important numbers in the poll. and that is the fact that all three, top three republican candidates, the ones, santorum, romney, newt gingrich, they all have a net negative, positive, negative rating. net negative favorable rating in our poll at this point in time with all voters. bush, mccain, dole, all had the same kind of tough primary fights, all had net positives when the general election campaign started. and in the midst at this point in time, same point in time when they're having the tough primary fights, they were in a net positive situation. here's mitt romney in a net negative situation. the last any nominee over the last 20 years in the "wall street journal" poll that started with a net negative,

there's only one and it's john kerry. we know how that turned out. the damage that's been done to romney in the -- for the general i think is something that is going to make it for -- it's going to be -- if he gets out of here, if he's the nominee, he needs to wrap this up early. i don't think he can afford a long primary. >> no, i don't think. and mark haleprin, though, if either pick tim tebow plus 33% as the v.p. -- >> hey, joe -- >> they carry colorado, they carry florida, a lot of other football-loving states. >> all the way. all the way with that left-handed throw. >> what is that? >> i'm all about tebow. >> that's a cute word. >> yeah, whatever, you're afraid your twitter feed is about to melt down. >> hey, joe -- >> can i make a different point, though? i think another important number about optimism. the sense that americans feel the economy's going to get better. i think this is what obama's

banking on. a sense he can do a contrast. somebody in the white house said to me this week that voters need some encouragement to sort of get back to backing obama. there's enough evidence in the poll to suggest that americans do want him to do well despite so many pockets of resistance. and i think the sense that americans feel like the economic situation's going to turn around is what they're really banking on as he asks for more time in the electorate. >> mark haleprin? >> there are fresh numbers that show romney opening up a lead in florida. certainly the conventional wisdom is romney's in a commanding position. what's the scenario between now and tuesday where gingrich can come back and win florida if you can see one. >> i think he needs a moment on the trail, number one. he is up with new negative ads. but i think the real problem that gingrich has. i go back to the guy with the best night last night was rick santorum. and any conservative who may start to feel a little bit squeamish about gingrich.

as we've seen this play out before, it doesn't go to romney, it ends up finding another place to go, and santorum made himself a plausible place to go. again, i think that's great news for mitt romney. but that's what wouldn't surprise me over the next four days if santorum's number bumps up a little bit. >> boy, i'll tell you what, jeff greenfield, you can tell that chuck todd's been talking to republicans in florida. all my other republican friends who never mentioned rick santorum's name before this week are all starting to look at him. because they're going, i'm not going to vote for mitt because he's not a conservative. newt's just not balanced enough for me. santorum was a senator in pennsylvania. maybe i go with him. >> you know what that closing comment he made about his family or wife which everyone treated kind of like the conventional stuff. he was quite eloquent and moving. >> yeah, he was. >> and there is that element that happens inebate where somebody you don't think is going to make a connection.

you haven't even thought of makes a connection on an emotional level. not on a policy level. and between that and his argument about the mandate, if you're a conservative in florida, gingrich seems a little combustib combustible, mitt doesn't seem honest as a conservative. we've seen everything else in this campaign, why not? >> david gregory, thank you very much, your guest this sunday on "meet the press." >> what was that? >> no, let's leave it behind. >> we're going to have mccain doing battle against fred thompson. we'll hear from axelrod and one joe scarborough will preview florida for us on the round table. >> perfect. chuck todd, thank you, as well. >> still ahead at the top of the show. what do i got to do? >> beginning monday, join us live at jerry's famous deli in south beach for -- >> is chuck going to be there? >> chuck? >> no, buddy. >> what? >> i know.

>> this is your hometown! we went to south beach for you. >> chuck. >> hey, talk to philly. >> that's why we chose it. >> we're going to talk to phil. >> philly? okay. by the way, we start at 5:30 in the morning with willie. >> willie starts at 5:30 in the morning. >> thank you, jeff. the employee of the month is... spark card from capital one.

spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing. what's in your wallet? i have copd. if you have it, you know how hard it can be to breathe

and what that feels like. copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms... by keeping my airways open a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. and it's steroid-free. spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. does breathing with copd weigh you down? ask your doctor if spiriva can help.

excuse me. him? he's helping me get back to normal. hey, i don't even live in a floodplain. but i've got flood insurance, so i'm covered. how's that? nice. flood insurance, it helps make your home a home again. or, your me a me again. ooh, check it out fred, new foundation. got any of those in my size? [ female announcer ] only flood insurance covers floods. for a free brochure, call the number on your screen.

we want to thank, by the way, the philadelphia free library for having us last night. >> it was great. and governor ed rendell introducing us. your father was in top form. >> huge crowd. >> they had like 500 people there, they had 300 people downstairs and then in the holding room, they'd checked registration cards and ed rendell put all the republicans in a holding room so they couldn't make eye contact with your father. it was a remarkable, remarkable event. >> thank you very much for having us. and sunday you'll see my dad again if you want to show up in washington. coming up next, martin o'malley of maryland and governor markell. we'll be right back. is it fast?

it's got 10 speeds, my friend. ♪ is it fast? it's got a lightning bolt on it, doesn't it? ♪ is it fast? i don't even know if it's street-legal. ♪ is it safe? oh, yeah. it's a volkswagen. [ male announcer ] the security of a jetta. one of nine volkswagen models

named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ got you in a stranglehold, baby ♪ of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale.

♪ la la la [ man ] whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. is another way to look at the bean. another way that reveals the lighter, mellower side of our roast. being blonde is nothing new but blonde roast is something new. something subtle. something soft. something with 40 years of roasting experience on its side. introducing delicious new starbucks blonde roast. the lighter roast perfected. ♪

44 past the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." the democratic governor's association conference kicks off today in new york. but first we're going to have a mini conference here on "morning joe." what makes that difference from every day? >> i was going to say. i was about to say i'm outnumbered, but i'm always outnumbered. >> chairman of the democratic governor's association maryland governor martin o'malley, jack markell and illinois governor pat quinn. first, jack, you describe the debate as unbearable, and i have to agree. it seems to me the president won

the week as we discussed earlier. >> he's winning more than the week. if you think about it, and i'm a democrat, but there have been plenty of republicans that i've admired over the years. we've had a number of in delaware, mike castle who lost last year. but i don't recognize these guys, instead of talking about things that matter to the country, they're only talking to the tea party. >> you don't recognize mitt romney? >> i don't recognize any of these guys. the defining moment to this campaign for me is eight of them standing up on the stage in iowa and none of them would accept the 10 to 1 ratio of cutting to revenue. and ever since then, when you think about this week, last night the negativity toward each other, the constant negativity toward the president as opposed to the state of the union. >> do you think mitt romney's a right-wing radical? >> he's not talking about issues that matter to independents. i'm not a pundit, but if you look at -- i don't know how he

wins independents. the president's talking about job training, community college, exports. he's talking about taxes. and these guys are just talking past each other. >> i don't know that mitt romney does win independents, barack obama would have to lose independents. >> the less they discuss jobs, the choices we need to make to expand opportunity. and then you contrast that especially this week with the president's vision. i've watched every single one of the state of the unions, and i think this one was his strongest in terms of its cohesiveness, fearlessness, and its vision for jobs and -- >> you say fearlessness, we've all said the president's had a great month, great state of the union address. i would call some of his earlier state of the unions, even though i disagreed with them fearless. this reminded me of bill clinton's second term, school uniforms, a bunch of really small poll-tested items that worked really well. politically it was great for him. but what was the most sweeping

part of the president's state of the union address for you that you thought was fearless? i'm not setting you up here, i'm genuinely curious. >> i thought the fact he was willing to talk about the investments we need to make together in terms of infrastructure, in terms of education, there's -- right now the president's talking about this balanced approach that, yes, sometimes asks for people to do more for their country, and you contrast that with what we've seen in the republican presidential debates. but back to the core of your question, i thought that the president's comprehensive vis n vision, his agenda of how we can build an economy that lasts by investing in education and infrastructure, those are the things it's going to take. people are yearning for a more balanced approach to get our country back on track so we can create jobs and opportunities that are better for the next generation than ours. >> governor quinn, whether you're a republican governor or democratic governor, these are bleak times when you look at the bottom line of your budget.

some governors are cutting to make due, others are raising taxes. you raised taxes last year, but now you're being pressured -- >> made cuts too. >> and now you're being pressured to take a step back on the tax increases. are you going to do that? >> no, we're not. we're going to pay the bills but also make investments. as martin just said, we invest in education. i like the fact that the president said kids have to stay in school until they're 18. jobs follow brain power. we have to understand investing in education, including community colleges is the key to a nimble economy. and our state caterpillar, john deere, ford, chrysler, all of these are manufacturers, and there are growing jobs, about 20,000 jobs in illinois in the past couple of years in manufacturing. and we have to continue to invest as the president said in the state of the union in manufacturing. my favorite words are made in america. and that's p what i think the people of our country feel. >> let me ask you a quick follow-up.

conservatives would say that you raised taxes, but then you had to give big corporations sweetheart deals to keep them from moving out of state. is that a fair charge? >> i don't think it's fair at all. we have targeted tax incentives to keep jobs and grow jobs, both for larger businesses, but also small business. i believe that small business means big business in our state. and a lot of smaller businesses, like groupon, they had eight employees in 2008, they have 6,000 today. we need to invest in smart people. that's the best way to have a strong economy. >> where's the job sector growing in your state? >> growing in the private sector. we're down by over 1,000 positions in state government. >> what part of the private sector? where should we look for a reason to hope? >> well, first of all, i don't think any state ought to be in the business of trying to pick one winning industry. but the idea it's either cutting or investing is a false choice. every state these days. you've got to cut where it's possible and you've got to invest where it's important. because these days, you know, my

view as being governor today is twice as difficult as it used to be. in the old days, you had to fight with your legislature about where about the incremental money, but these days there's not that much. first you have to have the fight about where the cut and then where you invest. >> you have to have the guts -- >> can you give us some of that maryland pixie dust? >> jack and i are neighboring states, the same kind of regional economy. in our state, the things growing, 5700 jobs at the port, so we can take advantage of selling more goods abroad. gm is now hiring in our state, creating the next generation -- >> this is the story of the week. >> it really is. as we all as americans look at into we're getting better or whether we're getting worse, that gm story, the auto manufacturing success did not happen by itself. the bottom line is gm is now

alive and hiring and bin laden is dead. we have a lot of work to do, but we actually have a steady jobs recovery. slower that we'd like, but in our states it's happening at the port, life science biotech and those industries that would go into the future. >> what had mitt romney have done? >> he would have let it go. >> we have three shifts at ford. chrysler is announcing next week a dodge dart -- >> you're being very patient. >> my grandmom drove us around -- >> the dodge dart, remember that? >> it's going to be made in illinois. >> the dart is coming back? >> i don't know if i'm going to bhi a fiat-inspired dodge dart. >> it's fiat inspired. they're growing jobs in rockford, illinois. >> i'm going to buy me a dodge dart, my man. >> wait a minute. >> i am. my grandmom drove around dodge

darts for years. what do you need in 2012? i'm not accused of you being a partisan, but what do you need from republicans and democrats alike in washington, d.c. in 2012 to make your job better? >> i think governors have to deal with real problems every day. you know, growing an economic is number one. if we have a payroll tax cut for the entire year, that's a good thing. i feel some of the republicans need to work with the president for the good of the national economy. martin talked about exports. our state increased exports 32% last year, so there's a lot of things you can do on a bipartisan basis to help american businesses small and large. >> let me ask you the same thing. >> we have to have them focus on things that make a difference, like opening market. the poultry industry in delaware is growing because of exports overseas. we need the folks in washington to focus on what we focused on. >> governor, what do you need from washington?

>> jobs, focus on jobs. come together on the things that americans want us to work on, that can expand opportunity, affordable college and get our country back on track. >> all right. i was good. you've got to admit i was good. i haven't been surrounded in a bar fight, and i -- >> take note. he was very patient. >> no, thank you guys. it was great having you here. always great. i love that maryland shirt. >> it's the uniform. >> the uniform. >> look at that. >> i am as disturbed -- >> i'm wading for my illinois shirt dinchts fighting blue hence. >> i need a fighting blue hence shirt. is that what they're called? >> yes. >> it rolls right off the tongue. >> still ahead, we'll talk to arne duncan ahead of the president's new push today to

control costs nationwide. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ woman ] we take it a day at a time. that's how it is with alzheimer's disease. she needs help from me. and her medication.

the exelon patch -- it releases medication continuously for twenty-four hours. she uses one exelon patch daily for the treatment of mild to moderate alzheimer's symptoms. [ female announcer ] it cannot change the course of the disease. hospitalization and rarely death have been reported in patients who wore more than one patch at a time. the most common side effects of exelon patch are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. the likelihood and severity of these side effects may increase as the dose increases. patients may experience loss of appetite or weight. patients who weigh less than 110 pounds may experience more side effects. people at risk for stomach ulcers who take certain other medicines should talk to their doctor because serious stomach problems such as bleeding may worsen. people with certain heart conditions may experience slow heart rate. [ woman ] whenever i needed her, she was there for me. now i'm here for her. [ female announcer ] ask the doctor about your loved one trying the exelon patch. visit exelonpatch.com to learn more. visit exelonpatch.com fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet

recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido i was 18 years old before i had my first fresh bun. the invention that i came up with is the hot dog ez bun steamer. steam is the key to a great hot dog. i knew it was going to be a success. the invention was so simple that i knew i needed to protect it. my name is chris schutte and i got my patent, trademark and llc on legalzoom. [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side.

florida here we come. beginning monday. "morning joe" will be live in south beach for special coverage of the florida primary. >> and we have a new quinnipiac

poll we'll be reporting on. quite a move by one of the candidates. at the top of the hour. also mitt romney and newt gingrich switch roles last night, romney putting newt on the defensive. we'll talk about it when we return. specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious.

♪[music plays]

when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays] this president has failed the american people. he got up there and gave a speech last night, it was like groundhog day all over again. he said the same thing and same results we are seeing today. people are not work iing --

[ applause ] -- and we know what it takes to put people back to work. he said some of those things last night, lowering corporate taxes, opening up regulations, cracking down on china. he just doesn't do any of those things. if i'm president, i will do though things and i will get you back to work. thank you. good morning. it is friday, 8:00 on the east coast, as we take a live look at new york city. welcome to "morning joe." back with us mike barnicle looking handsome today. do you have tube socks on? >> i do. >> mark halperin is with us as well. >> so many story lines. it was one of the most fascinating. >> bottom line, though? >> rick santorum had a great performance. >> mitt romney was pretty darn good, and newt gingrich didn't show up. it was one of the stranger store

lines of this republican campaign. asked afterward by the press in the spin room, where people basically say candidates had vomited on their lapels had a stellar night, newt gingrich's spokesman -- >> that's terrible. >> qush was asked why wasn't he more aggressive? the answer -- i don't know. and then they asked fred thompson why wasn't newt more aggressive? "i don't know." >> that's a good answer. >> it was pretty surreal. mark halperin. >> he's exploring space. >> what got into newt last night? >> in the immortgage at words of fred thompson -- i don't know. >> wasn't that strange? >> i think the answer is the romney campaign for the last few days executed perfectly to discombobulate him, to push back and he was on the defensive all night, and the few times he went

on the eavesive, romney pushed back. >> he let a lot of soft balls go by. a lot of times he could have hammered romney and he couldn't do it. >> his mind was in a defensive and angry place and romney was equipped to dismantle whatever he threw at him. rick santorum most people i talk to, he had a great night. >> had el had a great night. mitt romney also had a great night, but i think santorum's long dissection of romneycare and drawing romney into the debate where he had to explain, went back three, four times how it was different than president obama's affordable care act, and it didn't sound different, i think that is an argument that the white house liked hearing and something you'll hear again if romney makes it through to a general election. one way he might have helped

romney is when santorum said, can we drop all this nonsense? he's rich, he was successful. i think to republican voters, that's going to ring with them. >> but the headline of this, mike, if we're going to grade these the way that harvard's mark halperin grades it, with the students at the front of the class from the richest families, the most connected, you know the ones that will win in life anyway, you always give them the highest grade. that's how hall aspirin does this -- if he wins florida, this will be why. just for people at home, mark doesn't grate just on performance that night or el else had el would have possibly put santorum first, but how does this debate affect the outcome, and judged by that standard, romney was a big winner.

>> watching last night, i saw a romney he i haven't seen before. he wasn't the dressing room fighter, he stood up and basically turned to newt and said you're not taking my lunch anymore, you're going to stop doing this. he pushed right back. i don't know whether that had anything to do with newt's demeanor the rest of the night, that he may have been so surprised at romney's assault he did not handle it, that he never expected it. few people who know romney would have expected him last night. does he have a new debate coach? did he get a new debate coach? >> i think he does. >> i disagree with those respectfully who have never seen this side of him. he's been good in a lot of the debates. >> but he hasn't been as contentious. >> you're talking about romney? >> yeah. >> i disagree. he's chosen in most previous

debates not to be, because he didn't need to be, but when threatened, he's been contentious, remember when perry was a threat to him, i think he -- go ahead. >> no. mika, i just wanted to say really quickly, i don't think you can overestimate what a rough day it was for newt gingrich yesterday. here is a guy who believes -- and i think rightly so, that he extended the reagan revolution to congress, to the legislative branch, that he should be seen as the conservative hero of the past 20 years, and yet yesterday this guy got absolutely killed by conservatives. there was a politico article, and for a guy that aides like susan molnari have said, is prone to self-pity at times when he's getting kicked, think about it.

ann coulter came out yesterday, eviscerated him. there were stories all over drudge, a site he's advertised on for years, eviscerating him from conservatives. tom delay kicked him around, said he wasn't a conservative. reagan officials came out, kicked him around. bob dole. it wasn't the establishment like bob dole. it was the wide specter of a republican party that for better or for worse, newt gingrich brought to the majority of congress for the first time in a generation. i think that will weigh heavy on anybody and may have got him off of his game last night. >> actually the piece you're writing for politico basketly characterizes what you saw last night and all the peaks and sallies of his career. there's not just up, but up and wide swings to down, and we're literally watching that unfold. let's go through some of these

moments. the two front-runners sparred over lots of -- and they also talk about a harsh anti-romney attack ad that newt gingrich pulled off the airs after republicans, including florida senator marco rubio, criticized assen fair. >> in the original conversations about deportation, the position i took which he attacked was that grandmothers and grandfathers will not be successfully deported. we as a nation are not -- and by the way they'll end up in a church which will declare them a sanctuary, we're not -- to grab a grandmother and kick them out. i want to control the border, i want english to be the official language of government, i want us to have a lot of changes. >> mr. speaker i'm not antiimmigrant. my father was born in mexico. my wife's mother was born in wales. don't use a term like that. you can say we disagree on

certain policies, about you to say enforcing the u.s. law to protect our borders, to welcome people here legally, to expand legal immigration as i approved, that that's somehow anti-immigrant is simply the over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized american politics too long. i'm glad mark rho rubio called you out on it, i think you should apologize and recognize that having differences of opinions on issues does not justify labeling people with highly charged epithets. >> i'll tell you what. i'll give you an opportunity to self-describe. you tell some what language you would use to somebody who thinks that deporting a grandmother or a grandfather from their family -- just tell me the language. i'm perfectly happy for you to explain. >> i'm not going to find grandmothers and take them out of their homes, and to use that rhetoric suggests to people that

somehow if you're not willing to keep people who violated the law you're antiimmigrant. nothing could be further from the proof. the problem is not 11 million grandmothers, all right? our problem is 11 million people getting jobs that many americans, legal immigrants would plik to have. >> that was good. >> throughout this campaign he's thrown different strengths at different times. last night all of them were on display. >> he was very strong. he was funny at times. he was principled at times, but let's not forget what his campaign has done to position him for that debate. joe mentioned some conservatives who came out across the spectrum, bill clinton, one of his favorite expressions is if you see a stuarting on a fence post, you know it didn't get

there by itself. the romney campaign has orchestrated at least 80% of this. it's not only dominated the news cycle in florida, but no doubt it discombobulated gingrich. when he gets attacked, he's completely off his game and tries to make the whoa dialogue about the unfairness of it all. romney was a perfect counterpoint to that. didn't get drawn into his own attacks, but chose the moments to engage. >> are you saying mitt romney is a turtle on a fence post? >> no i'm saying a lot of what we've seen about newt gingrich has been orchestrated. when the topic wolf blitzer brought up who is more like reagan? he said gingrich is more like reagan, he stepped back, brilliant, part of a overall

package of why romney had such a good night. >> a fantastic night. >> they knew it was coming. >> of course. >> i talked to somebody a couple days ago who said gingrich is talking about how he's reagan despite the fact he trashed reagan time and again on the house floor, said we're not going there. if we go there, we know it does end well. you know what's interesting about this, willie, is this debate, which had a pro-romney crowd, you would have thought it may have been in sarasota or maybe in the southwest florida where romney-type voters are. it was in jacksonville, which is that -- >> that's the south. >> the stretch from jacksonville to pensacola should be gingrich territory. >> i'll bet you that's another turtle put on the fence post. i think the romney campaign finally figured out let's not see who shows up, let's get our people in there. >> that immigration question was

the first or second sequel, that set the tone immediately for the night. romney was prepared for his answer. it was clear this was not going to be like the previous debates in south carolina where gingrich would get off his one-liners. and the one time he tried the john king move where he challenged wolf blitzer and said that's an absurd question, wolf blitzer shut him down and said, wait a minute, you just said this two days ago on the trail. that gave romney the opening to say, wouldn't it be nice if we had a candidate up here who was willing to repeat to my face what he said out on the trail? all those things that worked in south carolina backfired for him in florida. >> clearly there's a conventional wisdom which the ging rich needed a strong debate didn't have it. romney and santorum were awesome. and that this is over. that's the conventional wisdom.

gingrich and his super pac have millions of dollars on in florida. gingrich is a fighter, and romney still has a ceiling in florida. while the conventional wisdom this is over, i still want to see what happens. >> florida is not iowa, florida is not new hampshire. as i've said before, and anyone who lives in florida, you know, if you -- if you have a great debate performance in concord, they node about it all the way from dartmouth down to manchester. if you have a great performance in coral gables, chances are really good they don't know about it on the other side of coral gables. >> that's the difficulty of florida -- or not. >> florida is a mighty river that flows. i mean people are -- people are doing a million different things. like, for instance you could have a baseball team that wins a world series and nobody would go out and see them play. >> that's right, in tampa. >> the biggest difficulty for

gingrich off last night could well be a little guy sitting this in las vegas, sheldon addle zone same i'm through writing checks. >> he could also say newt has been mistreated, he didn't have enough money early on, i'm going to invest more. >> oh, lord. >> but there's another guy in the rocky mountain west that was watching last night going this rick santorum guy is doing okay, i'm going to write more checks. i'm telling you santorum had a big night. he could show some movement in florida. that's very important for the super tuesday states in the south. if rick santorum becomes the evangelic evangelical's candidates, he'll pick up delegates moving forward. we'll be live from miami on monday, join us from jerry's famous deli, we're going to get going at 5:30 a.m. with willie's

show. >> what do you say "we"? >> way too early. it's so good. will you be live there in miami, too? we might show up, too. spend the morning with us. up next, we'll talk to education said tear arne duncan about the white house's new proposal being outlined today about how to make higher education more affordable. and find out which of these stories make the cut in willie's week in review. but first bill karins has the weekend forecast. >> this week i talked a lot about tornadoes and damage and destruction, it's only fitting we're talking about more mild weather and thunderstorms in areas that shouldn't have them. even some thunderstorms in virginia up through washington, d.c. we've also seen some storms rolling through florida this morning. so the forecast today, unbelievably warm through the northeast ahead of that front. it will get cooler as the

weekend goes on, but overall nothing very troublesome. a little windy in l.a., but even into sunday's forecast, there's no big storms out there, just a little shot of cold airheading interest the northern plains, but that's where it should be, shouldn't it? have a great weekend, everyone. you're watching "morning joe." we're brewed by starbucks. the employee of the month is... spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one.

get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing. it's got 10 speeds, my friend. ♪ is it fast? it's got a lightning bolt on it, doesn't it? ♪ is it fast? i don't even know if it's street-legal. ♪ is it safe? oh, yeah. it's a volkswagen. [ male announcer ] the security of a jetta. one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. ♪ got you in a stranglehold, baby ♪

premier of the packed bag. you know organization is key... and so is having a trusted assistant. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above and still pay the mid-size price. here we are... [ male announcer ] and there you go, business pro. there you go. go national. go like a pro.

colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down. recently i spoke with a group of college presidents who have done just that. some schools redesign courses to help students finish more quickly. some use better technology. the point is, it's possible. so let me put colleges and universities on notice. if you can't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. >> that was president obama during his state of the union address. it's on the front page of "new york times" today. joining us from an ashor, michig michigan. education secretary arne duncan later today the president will speak with the skyrocketing costses of education. >> thank you for the opportunity.

>> what's causing the skyrocketing costs, mr. secretary? >> well, i think we all have to invest. we're trying to be a partner at the federal level. but we should do it by ourselves. president obama is challenging states to invest in tough economic times, and the challenge is to keep tuition down. i think what troubles the president is many people are starting to think that college isn't for them, it's for wealthy folks. that picture has to change. >> federal funding will be yanked from some of these schools? >> we want to put in place both incent i was, carrots and sticks. for folks doing a great job of keeping tuition down and having students graduate, a culture of completion, we want to support them.

we want to reduce resources in other places. our young people are smart and savvy. we want to help them make the right choice. they want a great education, but they have to get volume for that investment as well. >> mr. secretary, there's a lot of discussion about how nothing will get done in this year. what arening on your agenda that congress might actually pass this year? >> i think this is absolutely the right thing for the country. we must be able to work in a bipartisan manner. we have to educate our way to a better economy, but increasing access to pell grants, that's done. we would need congress's help to increase work-study, but historically we have funded universitieses whether or not they did a good job of graduating people, whether or not they cope down tuition. we have the ability to removed resources from those that aren't as thoughtful in these areas. >> secretary duncan, good

morning, i applaud your effort on this. i hoe you succeed. i do want to ask you about one other issue that's hot in new york. that was merit pay in schools. mayor bloomberg came out about a week ago and suggested $20,000 bonuses for teachers in public schools who perform well over a two-year period. is that something you would support? >> yes, i've been very radical on this. i think we should double salaries 130, 140, 150,000, pick a number. we have beaten down educators. we have to elevate the profession, strengthen the profession. great teachers, great principles make a huge difference in our nation's children. we have to invest in them and need to reward excellence, particularly when great teachers

are taking on challenging assignments. >> so higher base pay, not the bonus system is what you're saying? >> no, i think we need to do both. i think we need to raise the base pay. i think teachers should be able to make a lot more money based on the difference they're making in students' lives, and willingness to take on tough assignments. >> so you believe, like mayor bloomberg, that teacher pay, bonus pay should be linked directly to student performance, right? >> i think all of us, from superintendents, principals, teachers, all of us, we go into education to make a difference in students' lives. historically we have treated everybody the same, whether you you were an amazing teacher or a teacher that frankly shouldn't be in the classroom. that picture has to change. we have to recognize and reward excellence. bev to recruit the next generation of teachers into our nation's classrooms, with the

baby boom generation retiring. the right way to do that is offer more pay and asking more of them as well. as you know, i can't paint ought teachers' unions with a broad brush, in delaware, for instance, we were just talking to the delaware governor. the governor and the head of the teachers union came together and they actually started pushing a plan that had link student performance and teacher bonus pay. what do you do? how can you influence some of, let's just say the more regressive reactionary union leaders that are stuck in the 1970s that don't see any linkage between students' success and teacher pay? >> well, i think we have to challenge everybody. you have some unions showing tremendous courage, some moving slower. school management leaders, school superintendents sometimes aren't showing as much courage, so all of us have to move

outside our comfort zones. what we're trying to do, as you know so well, everything we're doing, whether it's race to the top, whether it's neighborhoods, where we're sealing courage real leadership, where folks are sort of stuck in the status quo. we have a 25% dropout rate. that's unacceptable, we simply won't invest in the places that aren't willing to do things in very different ways. our carrots have moved the conversation in a very different way, but all of us have to start to do things that put students' best interests first, at the forefront. >> mike? >> mr. secretary, everyone floez college tuition in many cases is prohibitive for many families, but in order to even get to college, you need a foundation to build on. in order to get into a good trade union, to have a good job, you need a good educational

foundation so what are we doing to continue to build up and strengthen early childhood education, which is a cultural issue as well as educational issue, i think? >> i think there's nothing more important. i don't need another study. i think investing in high-quality early childhood education is the best thing to do. we recently put out $500 million to states willing to do two things. sniffingly increase access, particularly in disadvanced communities, but make sure it's high quality. if this is glorified baby-sitting, it doesn't get us where we need to go, but children ready to read and literacy and social skills intact, we transform their lives forever. so nothing is more important, and we're trying to drive the country to invest in very different ways and make sure children who need access to high quality get it. all right, second tear arne

duncan, thank you very much. good luck later today. more "morning joe" in just a moment. >> thank you for the opportunity. >> always great seeing you. great work. ♪

[ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. but not your wrinkles? neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. its retinol formula visibly reduces wrinkles in just one week. why wait if you don't have to. neutrogena®.

welcome back. joining us is cullen murphy, who's out now with the new book "god's injury." the inquisition and making of the modern world. in it he writes -- in our imaginations weoffhandedly a set of disciplinary procedures targeting specific groups codified in law, backed by institutional power and justified by a vision of one true path. considered that way, the inquisition is more accurately viewed not as a relic but as a harbinger. and look at the journey, from

the vatican archives to guantanamo. >> people generally don't know what a wide-ranging institutions z institutions the inquisition was. it spanned the world to even santa fe, and it spanned a huge amount of time from the beginning of the 13th century. it wasn't officially abolished until 1908. >> what was the impetus behind its start? why did the church decide that her ticks needed to be rooted out? >> the impetus is what what the persecution of any kind really is. it's the sense that you or a person or institution has a monopoly on a particular kind of truth, but that truth is so important -- >> that's been around obviously for thousands of years in every different culture. was there a particular triggering event?

>> it was fear of an upsurge of heresy, yes. the important thing about the inquisition is what gave it legs, what allowed it to go on? that's the modern part. that's the part that requires creating a bureaucracy, figuring out how you gather information about people, figuring out how you keep records about people and find those records afterwards, learning how to do censorship. this is my point about why you can see the beginning of the modern world when you look at something like the inquisition. >> that's what's really and truly interested about it. when you pull the string on the inquisition, you can actually frame things up in your mind. i see now, the red scare with the attorney general mitchell palmer, in the '20s, mccarthy-ism. hoover's legacy. >> wood row wilson and the way he treated german-americans during the first world war.

>> throw some democrats in there. >> i need to. for some reason it's always republicans. i don't think republicans have thrown hundreds of thousands of people in internment camps and stolen all their property, but give your republican examples. >> but the idea of, you know, your her tick 20 years ago, or 30 years ago, and now let's talk about that episode 20 or 30 years ago. >> well, there's no ideological monopoly on this way of thinking. >> amen. >> it's not just religious, either. it can be any kind of fear motivated by any kind of idea, as long as you're holding on to that idea as the be all and the end all, my way or the highway. >> sometimes, though, the famous washington express, just because your paranoid doesn't mean that everybody is not out to get you. sometimes fear -- we have seen it with barack obama who promised to get rid of gitmo in a year, promised to do things

differently, because he said they were motivated by fear. he got the first briefing, the briefing that the fbi director calls the o-blank briefing, and suddenly he thought there was a reason to connect fear with policy. >> and fear can completely legitimate. often you have to act on it. the danger is when you put policies into place that become somehow permanent and slowly you add more policies to those policies, and you look back. from a standard of 50 jeers, 100 years, and you realize my lord, the revelation that occurred i hardly noticed. >> so is the key critical thinking every step of the way, if you undertake a policy post-9/11, is your argument you don't allowself sustaining bureaucracy that will sweep you

forward and move you ard from your basic values, always be questioning why are we doing this today? >> absolutely, about you it's very hard to do about bureaucracy. we don't have the experience of doing that, and we know from our own lives that bureaucracies take on a lives of their own. with the inquisition you see the exact same thing. people are kind of on cruise control. something is set in motion. on it goes and people check into the inquisition office -- i'm speaking simply. they punch the clocks if they had clocks, and they do their job and keep the thing going. >> you described the department of motor vehicles. >> and that's getting worse. >> i knew there was a connection to make somewhere. i just couldn't make it in that short amount of time. >> people hear inquisition and they think of torcamata, but

what do we think of today? >> a couple examples. one of them has to do with surveillance the inquisition didn't have the tools we have today for surveillance, but they had pretty good ones and they collected a lot of information. so i worry today just about the way information is being complected really without anybody's say-so, and you don't know where it's going to go or how it's going to be used by some group, person or force into whose hands you don't want it to go. that's one. a second is censorship. you know, censorship was a big deal in the inquisition. it created the index of forbidden books, kind of the new and recommended list for us catholics of the 1950s and '60s, but censorship too is increasingly a big deal. you look at something like china and the great firewall, preventing all kinds of internet access. now, it's not perfect, but it

has a huge dampening effect on thought. it encourages things like self-censorship, which is just as dangerous and effective as censorship itself. >> cullen murphy, thank you so much. it is absolutely fascinating. >> it is. mike, i've got to say, speaking of an inquisition, you brought up this story in the "new york times" about the yale quarterback who the "new york times" smears. >> he's ruined. >> the kid is ruined. >> smears. and listen to this. he was supposedly, allegedly accused of sexual assault. "new york times" prints this huge story, right? >> um-hmm. >> i'll read just one paragraph. his accuser has not gone to the police nor filed what yale considers a formal complaint. "new york times" has not spoken with her, and does not know her name.

>> yeah. >> yale is not commenting, nobody is commenting. look at this. look at this spread. they've ruined this kid's life. >> yeah, they have. >> who the hell made the decision to run this story? >> that's a good question. >> who the hell would do this to a 22-year-old kid when the alleged accuser has not gone to the police. the alleged accuser has not filed a complaint, not even with yale. yale offers no comment. they don't know. >> and the sources are anonplus. they didn't want to be named. >> the whole way through. >> inquisition. >> we'll be right back. ♪

♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

and also to build my career. so i'm not about to always let my frequent bladder urges, or the worry my pipes might leak get in the way of my busy lifestyle. that's why i take care, with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, stop taking vesicare and get emergency help. tell your doctor right away if you have severe abdominal pain, or become constipated for three or more days. vesicare may cause blurred vision, so use caution while driving or doing unsafe tasks. common side effects are dry mouth, constipation, and indigestion. i've worked hard to get to where i am... and i've got better places to go than always going to the bathroom. so take charge of your symptoms by talking to your doctor and go to vesicare.com for a free trial offer.

over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. and i'm a master roaster at starbucks coffee. brian hayes. i'm a master roaster at starbucks coffee. sitting right here we have 40 years of roast experience. how can we use that and do more with it? new starbucks blonde roast was created to increase the offerings that we can give to our customers. [ anderson ] we decided that we would take our experience and apply it to the lighter, mellower, more subtle side of the bean. it's for the person who always wished that starbucks had a roast like this. [ hayes ] they're gonna love it. i mean, it's a fantastic blend. all right. it is :46 past the hour, time now for a check on business

before the bell with cnbc's brian sullivan live at cnbc headquarters. >> good morning, guys. gdp at 2.8% growth for an annualized rate, not bad, but a little below expectations. listen, we're looking hard to make this our fourth straight higher week in a row which would be pretty good new, sell gdp was a little less than expected. a company that makes scones, things like that, they also sell coffee, they came in with earnings per share where they had that they'll grow 17% to 20% this year, so starbucks continuing its run. everybody's buying coffee. you've heard of the company, right? >> i'll tell you what, when starbucks came to us and said, listen, we're a little start up, we'd like to use your show to maybe get into some east coast

markets, i was skeptical that we had that much power, but -- >> we did it as a favor. >> he's a good kid, a good new york kid. i thought howard deserved a break. >> brooklyn guy, who doesn't like mer maids? >> exactly. >> i love brooklyn guys, and i love mer maids. exactly. >> that's my halloween costume. i flop around. >> we're helping with on special brand of rich -- >> i don't understand the mermaid -- >> there's a mermaid here. >> oh! >> or is she a siren? jason and the argueilez naughts. >> and i agree with the "new york times" thing, shredded the kid. >> no sources here, right? >> and they were talking about his parents moving around because they want him to have a good education and be a high school star -- i don't want to

get into that, but you get the point. >> unbelievable, brian, they would never do this to a presidential candidate without facts. they would never do this to a business leader without facts. they would never do this to an educator without facts, but the numbs number of times has tried to ruin a 22-year-old kid's life when, again, they have no accuser, they have no name of an accuser, they no comment from yale. they don't even know the alleged accuser's name. it's a stunning shoddy piece of journalism. maybe the other -- maybe the other shoe is going to drop, and then we can judge it, but i cannot believe they went to super es with this. >> brian, thank you. willie's week in review is next. . for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning.

the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪

lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro.

wait no more. im time for the week in review. >> to suggests that governor romney is more reagan-like than i am is an act of total fantasy. >> at number three, wrestling over reagan. >> well, they've got a great sense of humor, but also a pretty cynical attitude toward their system. >> mitt romney and newt gingrich campaigning competed for the right to ronald reagan's legacy. >> i helped him for eight years while he was president. i've plead a movie about hem. >> a pro-romney super pac added that the administration may not have been mutual. in hisdiaries he mentioned

gingrich only once. and also a piece of jfk's mantle by promising a moon shot. >> we'll have the first base on the moon and it will be american. >> if i had someone come to me and say they said a billion dollars to build a base on the moon, i would say, you're fired. and she lives in the san francisco environment of very strange fantasies. meanwhile, sarah palin metphoricly accused chris christie of wearing women's underwear. >> you kind of get your panties in a wad and may say things you regret later. i think that's what chris christy did. and the buffett rules. ♪ i've been working on the railroad ♪ ♪ all the livelong day the chinese rang in their new year this week, and for reasons that remained unclear,

american billionaire warren buffett was invited to play the ukulele on china's version of dib clark's new year's eve. ♪ i've been working on the railroad ♪ ♪ just to pass the time away >> it quickly turned the year of the dragon into the year of a rich goo in a sweatshirt playing a ukulele in front of his train set. ♪ won't you blow your horn and the number one story of the week. >> the state of our union is getting stronger. >> he walked the country thus his resume. >> for the first time in nine years there are no americans fighting in iraq. osama bin laden is not a threat to this country. >> in a generally well-kefd speech, there was one unfortunate moment that set the

country back months in its recovery. >> because milk was somehow classified as an oil. with a rule like that, i guess it was worst crying over spilt mi milk. >> you know, that face says [ bleep ] told you that wasn't funny. >> out on a tour of swing states, president obama got a finger in his grille from arizona gubernatorial welcoming committee. >> he wanted to talk about the book, and i thought he was pretty thin-skinned. sarah palin, your thoughts? >> you kind of get your panties in a wad and may say things you regret later. still time for her to get into the race, my friends. up next, what if anything did we learn today? for fastidion emily skinner,

each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on... ...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees...

take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la [ man ] whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. ♪

♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go i'm giving you the silent treatment. so you're calling to tell me you're giving me the silent treatment? ummm, yeah. jen, this is like the eighth time you've called... no, it's fine, my family has free unlimited mobile-to-any-mobile minutes. i can call all i want. i don't think you understand how the silent treatment works. hello? [ male announcer ] buy unlimited messaging and get free unlimited calling to any mobile phone on any network. at&t.

welcome back. it's time to talk about what we learned today. >> i learned that newt gingrich ends up in a mitt romney administration, he approaches mitt romney with ideas on how to build a moon colony, he will be fired. >> if you see mike barnicle on a fenceport, he didn't get there on his own. >> and m